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Driven to succeed, Warren wins at Bolingbrook

An upset loss to Zion-Benton in Week 8 ultimately proved costly for Warren's football team.

Then again, it also paid dividends.

"After the Zion game, all of us seniors got in the lecture hall (that same night) with Coach and talked about what we needed to do going forward," said Blue Devils senior safety Caden Fox, alluding to head coach Bryan McNulty. "He said (the loss) was the best thing that ever happened to us. I believe that. I feel like we're rejuvenated."

Despite winning on the road at Stevenson last week, Warren, which had won 5 of 6 before stumbling in Zion, drew a No. 21 seed in the Class 8A state playoffs. That meant the Blue Devils had to make an hourlong drive south to Bolingbrook, where on Friday night they found a Raiders team that also was dealing with a costly loss.

Bolingbrook not only fell to undefeated Lincoln-Way East (the top seed in Class 8A) last week but saw three-year varsity quarterback Anthony Vespo suffer a broken leg. Freshman Samuel Jackson started at quarterback against Warren, and the 12th-seeded Raiders didn't resemble the same team that scored 306 points during the regular season.

Warren wasn't feeling sympathetic. The Blue Devils erupted for three second-quarter touchdowns en route to a 28-14 win. The Blue Devils intercepted Jackson three times, twice by Fox, and recovered 3 Bolingbrook fumbles.

"He's a freshman, but he was good," Fox said of Jackson. "He's got a good arm and he can run, too. We were prepared for that."

The victory earned Warren (7-3) a second-round playoff game against No. 5 Maine South (9-1), which routed No. 28 Evanston 58-7.

"That was a great win," said Warren quarterback Ian Schilling, who rushed for 2 scores and threw for one. "(Our start) was a little slow, but we were still hitting them. We knew we could get big plays."

No. 12 Bolingbrook, which had a 24-year playoff streak snapped last year, finished 7-3.

" (Vespo) was a good player," McNulty said. "But they're still Bolingbrook. They run the ball. I thought we did a good job, except for two plays."

The two plays were touchdown runs of 87 and 83 yards by speedy junior Quentin Pringle (8 carries, 190 yards). The first came on Bolingbrook's first play from scrimmage in the second half, pulling the Raiders within 21-7. The second TD followed Schilling's 4-yard run that extended Warren's lead to 28-7 early in the fourth quarter.

Warren's offense was stagnant until its third possession. Schilling threw deep to Micah Jones for a 41-yard gain to the Bolingbrook 4 on the last play of the first quarter. Two plays later, Schilling sneaked in from the 1 to open the scoring.

Bolingbrook was out of sync offensively the entire first half. That was particularly evident on its possession following Schilling's TD, as the Raiders committed 3 false starts.

Warren then partially blocked a punt, and the Blue Devils took over at the Bolingbrook 20. They went backward, however. After establishing first-and-goal from the 9, they faced fourth down from their own 45. The missed opportunity didn't prove costly.

Bolingbrook fumbled the ball away on its next series, and Martin Walker Jr. (33 carries, 123 yards) busted off a 27-yard touchdown run on the next play. Octavian Dungee's interception set up Schilling's 19-yard TD pass to Jones (3 catches, 65 yards) with 31 seconds left in the half, making the score 21-0.

Warren opened the second half with a 10-play drive before punting. The Blue Devils kept handing off to the indefatigable Walker and kept chewing up time on the game clock.

"After the loss to Zion, we talked about what just happened and what we needed to fix, especially us seniors," Schilling said after completing 14 of 23 passes for 175 yards on a windy, cold night. "We just fixed it. We took the fire inside our hearts and beat Stevenson, and then we came here with that same fire."

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